Hay and Vegetables to Feed Your Bunny

Go back to What king of food to feed your bunny with?

Here I will talk about hay and vegetables. Lets first write few lines about hay.

Hay is basic food to feed your bunny with

Hay can be offered to bunny without any limits. But keep in mind that not every hay is good hay.

Hay is must-have diet component for your bunny. You have to insure presence of limitless amounts of hay for your bunny. But not all sorts of hay are good for your loved ones. Lets see what sorts of hay you can find out there on market.

There are two groups of hay: grass hay ans legume hay. Grass hay is perfectly harmless, and bunny should have limitless access to it. It provides lots of nutrients, and little calories. Legume hay, on the other hand, is rich in calories, and should be limited. It is mostly used for feeding rabbits for food market (we are not talking about those rabbits). Besides calories, legume hay is rich in calcium, which is not good thing either.

You may find few types of grass hay: Timothy hay and meadow hay (made of all different sorts of grass).

Also there are few types of legume hay: alfalfa, beans, peanuts, clover hay. (if you feed your bunny with pellets, it is better not to feed them with legume too).

It is important to provide 90% of daily intake by offering them hay. Rabbits will find fruits, legume, pellets more attractive than hay. If you try to give more other food, and less these grassy components, bunnies will start rejecting hay at some point. Don't let them choose what to eat. Becouse of their lack of judgment when it is about food quality, and their well being, it is your responsibility to take care of their diet.

Many owners prefer to give less hay to prevent contaminating the house with it. It is truth bunnies like to spread hay around the place, but there are ways to reduce that problem. When you offer too much hay, bunnies will eat the best of it, and leave the rest not to be eaten. That hay will soon be around the house. But if you try offering them 3 times a day lesser quantity of hay, they will eat more, and leave less of it not eaten. Also, putting   hay in litter box, or some other box should do nice job too. But be careful then. Bunnies pee and poop in the places where they eat. Having the food in box, it will get contaminated easily. So, try to change hay once a day.

In this what kind of food to feed your bunny to post, I will now write few lines about vegetables.

Vegetables are an other great source fiber for your pets. 

When you imagine rabbits, what sort of vegetables do you link them to? When I think of rabbits, I always think of carrot too. :) Well, aside of cartoons, in reality it is a bit different. Eating carrots, your bunnies take lots of sugar in. So, it is not good for abdominal flora, and the blood sugar levels. Instead of feeding your bunny with carrot root, you should give them carrot tops, and 1-2 slices of carrot root a day.

Lets start with a list of acceptable vegetables:

Basil Beet greens (tops) Bok choy Broccoli (mostly leaves/stems) Brussels sprouts Carrot tops Celery Cilantro Clover Collard greens Dandelion greens (NO pesticides) Endive Escarole Green peppers

Kale Mint Mustard greens Parsley Pea pods (the flat edible kind) Peppermint leaves Radicchio Radish tops Raspberry leaves Romaine lettuce (NO iceberg or light colored leaf lettuce) Spinach Watercress Wheat grass

Mmmmmm... :)

Kale, mustard greens, and spinach are rich in oxalate, which can accumulate in the system and cause toxicity over the time.

Vegetables are important for improving chewing habits of your bunnies. Give them every day a different vegetable to chew to make them use different chewing motions, helping that way teeth grinding.

Some authors recommend giving wet vegetables to your bunny. Some others say it can softer their feces. one thing is sure, you have to wash vegetables up well, so no pesticides remain on it. 

Vegetables will provide lots of vitamin, fiber, nutritients and water for you bunny. It is health and low in calories, which is good. If you ask me, the best to feed them with is a salad and carot tops. 

What Kind of Food To Feed Your Bunny With?

Hi, dear reader.

Yesterday I was writing about litter training. It is giving head-ache to new bunny owners. And I hope my advices were helpful to you.

If you have missed last posts, it is the best you start from the beginning:
bunnies as pets,
litter training.

"What do you want from me???" :)

Today I will write something about food that is good and bad for bunnies.
In general, bunnies will eat everything you give them. They will even show more interest for food that is BAD for them (such as chocolate- they love it, but it is poison for them). That is why you need to know basics about their nutrition, so you can be sure food you have been feeding them with is good for them.
What kind of food to feed your bunny with?
Lets start with bunny food pyramid:

Bunny food pyramid

As you can see from the food pyramid, the main food, your bunny should always have on menu, is hay. Timothy and meadow hay should always be there for you bunny. They can eat it in unlimited quantity.
More about hay you can find in the post Hay and Vegetables to Feed Your Bunny.
Water is the most important substance in bunny's life. We all know the value of water. In this case water also helps bunnies digest their fur hair, they ingest by licking themselves. By doing it, they take lots of hair in their digestion system. All that hair can cause many problems. The greatest of them is Ileus. That means passage in their digestion system has been blocked, and is life-threatening. Water prevents them going into Ileus. So, make sure, there is some water around them all the time.

On the next step on the food pyramid, there is vegetables. It is great source of vitamin, fiber and water. Fresh and green vegetables are the best. Some authors say that we should be feeding them with wet vegetables, and others claim dry is the best. The one thing is sure: vegetables should be well cleaned! Avoid feeding them with too much vegetable that has lots of sugar in it (carrot and other roots).
More about vegetables you can find in post Hay and Vegetables to Feed Your Bunny.
In second part of What kind of food to feed your bunny with post I will write few lines about pellets and fruit. Stay tuned!

Pellets.
Rabbit pellets, known for their ease of feeding and rapid weight gain, were originally developed for the rabbit "livestock" market, where rabbits are raised for their meat or fur and not intended to live out their potential lifespan. For house rabbit, that are expected to live 10 or more years, it is preferable and vitamin rich diet.
Pellets are rich in calcium, and many of them are rich in sugar and fat. Calcium can cause many health problems (urine sludge, heart conditions), and sugar and fat lead to obesity. FAT RABBIT IS NOT A HAPPY RABBIT! There are different pellet products, and you can choose ones that are low in previous mentioned ingredients. More about pellets you can find here.

What you have to know about fruit is that fruit provides lots of vitamins for your pet, but, lots of fruit in their diet is bad for having sugar in it. You pet will love fruit. Apple and banana is my Gary's favorite food. So I like to use it as reward for his good behaviour. I do feed him with apple often, I must admit (2 slices per day), but I don't give banana to him that often. The main reason is a sugar. So I give it once per week. Pineapple and papaya juice is good for digestion. It prevents condition of Ileus. Fruit provides lots of water for your rabbit, so that is one big plus too. But, I will repeat: be careful. Tu much sugar, can cause abdominal flora dis balance, which can be lethal. More about fruit you can find here.

What kind of food to feed your bunny with? Well, treat is not one of that food. Treats, as sweets, are rich in sugar and fat. So, better not to use it. Better treat is fruit (apples, pineapples, banana). Few raisins can do great job too. Use treat only during learning lessons as a reward. Later, give some treat to your bunny once per week. And remember: FAT BUNNY IS NOT HAPPY BUNNY!
On the other hand, there are some sorts of snacks and treats which can be offered to your pet. I suggest to check those out here: Organic Snacks for Your Pet Bunny.

For any question, feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer to it. Thank you for reading my blog.

Next time I will talk more about bunny habits and behaviour.

Did you like it? Did you find it useful? Please, leave a comment, and share ideas, thoughts, ask something, or  give a critic.

Thank you.

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